


The Birthday

by spiders



Series: atla oneshots [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Banter, Birthday Fluff, Cat Cafés, Cats, Cute, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Explicit Language, F/F, Fluff, Implied Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Mai (Avatar)-Centric, Past Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Pets, Self-Indulgent, Short & Sweet, Slice of Life, im sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:16:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27134444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiders/pseuds/spiders
Summary: Mai loves Ty Lee, even if she sometimes needs Zuko's advice to show it.
Relationships: Mai & Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Series: atla oneshots [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1976065
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	The Birthday

**Author's Note:**

> this is nothing but poorly written fluff, im sorry 🥺

"I need you to buy my gift for Ty Lee."

Zuko stopped mid-sip, his lips still poised on the rim of the cup. "Why?"

Mai sighed. "I'll PayPal you, I just don't know what to get her. I need you to give it to her as well."

Zuko's eyes widened. "Hold on a second. You want me to what?"

"Give it to her. I wouldn't know what to say."

"And I would?" he exclaimed. "Mai, you've literally dated me!"

"So? You weren't that bad at saying all that emotion stuff."

"I literally fucking told you that I don't hate you."

"You were sixteen. That's not that bad. Besides, you and Sokka don't have a problem with shit like that now."

Zuko raised an eyebrow. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Mai raised her's in return. "Do I really have to mention that time on the couc-" Zuko's hands were already flying across the table to cover her mouth.

"No! No, you do not."

Mai tugged his hands off her. "I was just trying to giving an example," She muttered, taking a sip of her drink. Zuko copied her action, before setting his cup down, looking at her for a second longer than comfortable.

"You love her, right?"

Mai's eyes widened.

"Yeah," A pause. "I love her."

"So," Zuko took another sip. "It's nice to tell her, but you shouldn't have to tell her to have her know."

* * *

The café's pastel walls were adorned with dozens of paintings of kittens. Upon one of the walls was a bulletin board, full of pictures of smiling people hugging their newly adopted cat. Randomly scattered around in between were inspirational posters, with the occasional "Live, Laugh, Love" sign. _Very much_ Ty Lee's speed. Not so much Mai's. She could put up with it, though. Ty Lee was sitting on the floor, surrounded by a dozen or so cats of every size and colour imaginable. The sparkle in her eyes was even brighter than usual. Mai smiled, absentmindedly stroking a tortoiseshell sitting next to her, watching Ty Lee dangle a feather teaser in front of a calico.

"Hey," Ty Lee looked up at her from the floor. "You still okay?"

Mai smiled wider, leaning forward from the day bed. "Yeah. Just kinda zoned out for a sec."

Ty Lee smiled back at her. "Just makin' sure."

Mai paused. "Which one's your favourite?"

Ty Lee's eyes widened. "How could I ever pick a favourite? They're just all so cute!" She gathered three from her lap and hugged them towards her, pouting.

"Just try to pick one."

She looked thoughtful for a second. "Well... If I had to pick just one..." She pulled yet another cat out of her lap. Mai looked at it, cocking her head to the side. Pure white, scrawny, and looked as if he hadn't thought anything in his life.

"Okay. We're taking that one home."

Ty Lee stared at her, scrunching her eyebrows together. "What? We can't adopt him!"

"We can. I've been preparing stuff for a while. Just need to sign a couple papers."

Ty Lee paused. Her eyes started watering. "You planned all this?"

Mai looked to her side, shifting uncomfortably. "Yeah? Just wanted to surprise you."

"So we can actually take him home? Today?"

She smiled, looking back at her. "Happy birthday?"

Ty Lee put the cat down. She looked at Mai, tears now spilling over her waterline, running down her cheeks. She was smiling the widest Mai had ever seen. In a flurry of movement, she jumped up from the floor and threw herself into Mai's arms, pulling herself back to kiss her- on her cheeks, lips, forehead, nose, everywhere. The whole time, Mai was grinning.

"I love you, love you, love you!"

"Yeah, yeah. Love you too."


End file.
